Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Reviews by tomdavistoronto:

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3.06/5 rDev -2.9%look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A finger of off-white head crowns this red bodied lager. The colour on this is beautiful. The head shows poor retention and leaves no lace behind. It has a mild aroma of chocolate and nuts, with a hint of caramel that struggles to make it through. Flavour is of mild toasted malts and a hint of nuttiness with a very mild bitterness. It doesn't smell or taste bad or off in any way, it's just really tame. Fizzy carbonation helps this light bodied beer go down like water. It's not bad, I just wish it had a little more body and a bolder flavour. (546 characters)

Good in the first few minutes out of the bottle when aggressive carbonation hits with the hemp vegetable. I guess that's why its popular with the moterbike crowd in the rough part of town. If open more than a few minutes , pour out. Some malt, some bitterness. A brewery that can be safely skipped. (298 characters)

Pours a fairly deep copper, very clear and with a rather small light tan head that dissipates pretty quickly and leaves virtually no lacing. Very much like an amber ale, and not uninviting a tall. Smell is quite sweet, brown sugar and caramel maltiness with a bit of hop bitterness in the background. Taste is a bit medicinal, not a lot of any interest going on here. Bit of grain, a hint of fruit. Mouthfeel is good at first, but the carbonation fades quickly, and there's not enough body to really carry it. Drinkability is average at best. Bit of a gimmick, but could be much worse. (585 characters)

pours amber with thin off white head. lots of bubbles in the body. looks sparkling. head goes away quick.

a few swirls of the glass brings the nose to life in an otherwise weak aroma. bubble gum aroma. lots of fruity notes, berries, apples. not a boldly presented aroma but what comes through is quite nice.

tastes like a sour beer that gets stomped by malt and has some degree of bitterness also lingering around. the beer tastes messy. not sure what i'm supposed to get out of this.

its got sweet aftertaste which is borderline cloying and seems to linger and get worse.

different but not in a good way.might not finish this one. (692 characters)

Bottle: Poured a clear copper color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of floral cereal notes with light dry hoppy notes. Taste is also a nice enough mix between some hoppy notes with clean floral cereal notes with light residual sweetness. Body is about average with good carbonation. Better then expected but nothing too write home about at the end of the day. (397 characters)

I approach this type of beer with a bit of a jaundiced eye, as I've never felt hemp adds much to a beer other than gimmick value. Poured a surpisingly dark and rich amber color. Flavor was in the hoppy amber ale range, with noteworthy caramel malt and a prominent hops bittering. The flavor profile never seemed to come together and meld - the hops and malt struggled against one another throughout. Out of balance. (415 characters)

The second offering from the Cool brewery to be found. I'm sorry, I look at the name and, in relation to it's simply "Cool" brother, I kinda shake my head.... BUT, let's see what this hemp red ale has to say for itself.

Pours out a nice clear deep chestnut colour, just a quick splash of off-white head before it totally dissipates. Rich malty aroma, almost extract-like in its sweetness, earthy, a bit nutty, with leafy hops.

The flavour starts out mild and a bit subdued, the malt starts to come rolling out after the middle and towards the finish, a very sweet caramel malt profile, somewhat nutty, even a small dip of chocolate on the aftertaste. As it warms more it gains a very slight spicy hop finish and aftertaste, and becomes more nutty on the back end. However the flavour can't get over the factor of coming across washed-out and a bit watery, no real taste until well on its way to the finish. The mouthfeel is a bit over-carbonated as well, the same flaw as with the Cool Lager.

Would make an okay alternative to a macro lager if it came down to that choice, but a pretty one-dimensional red, given the hemp content or not. Someone else has already cried "Gimmick!" in one of their reviews already, but I wave that flag as well. Not sure who this brewery is marketing to, it's all just skimming the surface. (1,331 characters)

Decided that, given the pretty cheap price tag, Cool Beer's Millenium Buzz was at least worth a try (especially given that I spent a lot of money today before going to the liquor store - gotta watch the bank account). I was expecting a gimmick - and this is, undoubtedly, a gimmick - but it's not a bad beer. Nothing special, but interesting, and enjoyable in a simple, understated manner.

Pour is quite appealing - from a brown, twist-off ISB (with fun stuff under the cap, and a label right out of High Times), I was expecting something a lot lighter (it is a lager, but apparently a "red lager"), but found a red-brown colour similar to a lighter English Brown Ale. Capped by two fingers of slightly off-white head that dissipates in about five minutes, leaving about a half-finger of spotty froth over the surface. Not too bad.

Smell is interesting, but somewhat understated. I'll be the first to admit that I have not the faintest idea what hemp tastes OR smells like, so I'm limited here. Regardless, there's some nice sweet crystal malt - brown sugar, chocolate (Butterfinger) - and sort-of raspberry fruitiness. Little discernable in the way of hops, maybe just a light dusting in the distant background. Nuts, maybe some lemon. A bit of a case of multiple identities, but fairly respectable nonetheless.

Taste is general more of the same, with the exception of the far-more assertive hopping (grassy, lemony, fairly bitter). Dough-y/bready. Sweet malt, though less obvious than in the nose. Ginger. Initially sweet, but an immediate bitterness, followed by a battle between the sweet and bitter elements for dominance. Finishes dry and bitter, but with a gentle chocolate-maltiness accenting it. Again, nutty and grainy. Not so much in the way of herbal flavours, or spiciness, but interesting. Ultimately, fairly neutral - it goes down smooth, and is satisfying but unremarkable. As it warms, the hop-spiciness does become more assertive, but not enough to be noteworthy.

Mouthfeel is pretty average. Somewhat overcarbonated, but with a moderate-body (although the body does feel a touch "slick"). Drinkability seems average as well. This isn't a session beer, that's for sure, and I could never see myself buying a case for heavy drinking. Despite it's fairly small price-tag, it's more of an every once-in-a-while, "hey, what the hell" kind of beer than anything else. Worth a try, but don't expect much. (2,428 characters)

Appearance - Copper colour with an average size fizzy off-white coloured head. There's an average amount of carbonation and there isn't much lacing. The head lasted for around 3-4 minutes.

Smell - Malts, grassy notes, caramel

Taste & Mouth - There is a below average amount of carbonation and I can taste malts and a hint of chocolate. There is also some grassy notes and some caramel. It ends with a malty aftertaste with a bit of a herbal/hoppy lingering spiciness.

Overall - Much better than I expected. I thought this would be some kind of novelty beer. It's not groundbreaking by any means, but it has a nice drinkable flavour. (677 characters)

Cool idea, but not so good beer. Nothing offensive, but just not that different. Pours a dark brown body with a thin off white head. Aromas are malty, sugary, slightly floral. Corn and a sorta chemical aroma too. Taste is malty, semi sweet corn, and grassy. Pretty inoffensive, I just wish there was some more depth. (316 characters)

Industry standard brown 341ml bottle.
Pours a nice clear chestnut brown color, short white head of quickly disappearing bubbles. Malty aroma with some sweetness, a bit nutty. Sweet malty flavor with a slight spicy hop finish. A clean taste, but not much more. It is quite average as far as taste and mouthfeel. Thin and well carbonated, make it easy to drink, but not much flavor to savour. Not really anything unique or 'hemp-like' spice or bite. Worth a try, but not much more. (481 characters)

341 mL bottle from the LCBO; bottled Oct 17 2012 if I'm deciphering the code properly (K1712). The first time I tried this stuff was years ago, when I saw it on the sales floor of a TBS back during university - and yes, the only reasons I bought it were the pot leaf on the packaging and the impressively low price. Although I've had it more than a few times since then, I've never found the time to actually sit down and review it. Until now, anyway.

Pours a lovely clear mahogany-brown colour, topped with one finger of creamy, relatively dense, off-white head that recedes quickly over the next few minutes. Its only remnants are a patchy cap and narrow collar. Clean, relatively uninteresting aroma with notes of caramel/brown sugar, toasted nuts, honey and bready malts. Also some herbal notes - whether they're from hops or hemp, I can't be sure, but it gives the aroma some semblance of a second dimension.

Relatively neutral, clean, approachable flavour that I could see winning over adjunct lager fans. Although Buzz doesn't really come across as especially corny, something about the flavour profile really makes me believe that there is some sort of adjunct in here. Beyond that suspicion, it tastes mostly of bready malts, brown sugar, maybe some nuttiness, and faint herbal, floral hop notes rounding out the finish. Very straightforward, and probably leaning on the sweet side, but at least it isn't cloying. Light-bodied and watery, with high carbonation comparable to that of most macros. Easy to drink quickly, if nothing else.

Quaffability is this one's main strength - it tastes ok and goes down smooth, so it certainly has most AALs beat at their own game. At $6 for 4 bottles, it's a pretty good deal in Ontario, and I can guarantee you it tastes better than most of the mass-produced garbage in this price range. I assume that most of this brew's market consists of white college kids with scruffy dreadlocks and green/yellow/red clothing on, but even to those outside of this narrow demographic, this beer can stand on its own as a solid value-brand lager.

Final Grade: 3.35, a serviceable B-. Cool Brewing's Millennium Buzz is technically an 'herbed' beer, but it reminds me more of a quirky, high quality adjunct lager, or perhaps a mediocre amber. It drinks with all the crisp, bland smoothness of any mass-produced lager, but with the added hemp twist and caramel maltiness giving it an additional dimension. It's nothing special, and I doubt most BAs would consider this 4 pack anything more than a decent deal for stingy shoppers - but I still say it's worth at least one try. (2,611 characters)

This was a surprise. I was anticipating it to be some kind of novelty beer. To my surprise it was a cold tasty. Millennium Buzz had a nice foresty, piney taste. Not like anything I have tried in a beer before. I purchased a six pack of this while staying in Toronto, Canada. Over all worth the drink. (300 characters)

Poured from a can into a shaker pint, the beer is a deep, vibrant, amber-ruby coloring with a low profile, frothy, filmy, off-white head. Nose of rich, dark caramel and toffee, with a resiny backbone and some chocolate notes. Flavors of chocolate, caramel, and herb on the forward tongue, with a roasty and grassy follow-up. Smooth in mouth, and well balanced, with a slight lean towards the herbal side. Decent cling along the glass as you drink. Roasty, right, slightly bitter aftertaste, with a subtle skunky characteristic kicking around. Smooth, clean finish. Decent brew. (577 characters)

Nice colour. Pours a rusty, dark amber tone with a thick frothy head that leaves moderate lace and settles as a collar.

Very sweet, malty aroma. Rotting or overripe fruit tones. Very grape-like, almost like a wine. Develops a spicy brown sugar sweetness

Not much in the way of taste really. Has a real boozy overtone, like grain alcohol or something equally cheap. There is a woody note in there as well, like oak and a sweet, malted corn flavour. Very subdued and not that appealing.

Thin and watery. Almost no body whatsoever. leaves a yeasty, corn syrup feeling on the back of the tongue.

If you're looking for a cheap beer you can session while its cold, you could do worse. But this one just isn't for me. Too sweet with little balance or body. (753 characters)

Pours a dark reddish brown with a small offwhite head and barely any lacing. Smells like sweet malts, clean smelling, thats about all i get, some sugar. Tastes pretty malty, full, very smooth, not a whole lot of flavour but the fullness is quite nice. Not a bad beer but not that good. Easy drinking though. (307 characters)